THE CARAVAN. 149 



ioned, passes around the head and confines the 

 handkerchief, and the corners hang free, or are 

 gathered about the neck. This is a very toler- 

 able protection for the face, but Europeans 

 would find it insufficient for the crown, and in 

 the heat of the day, the Arab himself very often 

 wraps his head in the folds of an ample tur- 

 ban, a thick woollen blanket, or the skirt of his 

 bernoos^ or cloak. I found the East Indian pith 

 hat, with a quilted cotton cover, and when the 

 long narrow cotton shawl, called kushack in 

 Egypt, thrown over it in thick folds, gathered 

 about the neck, and knotted under the chin, the 

 best head-gear. The kushack both prevents 

 the light hat from blowing off", and effectually 

 shields the head, face, and lips from sun and 

 wind ; and this plan seemed to me much pre- 

 ferable to any European head-dress, because it 

 relieves you from that great annoyance, the 

 necessity of carrying and looking after a heavy 

 umbrella. You, reader, I have every reason to 

 believe, are a very nice person, and therefore, 

 remembering that the washerwoman is not yet 

 abroad in the desert, you will, I trust, take 

 along with you good store of clean linen, and 

 listen not at all to the authority or the example 

 of the author of the ' Hastily gobbled up Crud- 

 ities,' who held him guilty of sinful superfluity 

 that ' had more suits or shirts than bodies,' or 



